The communications reportedly included Merz, Macron, Meloni and Starmer

An EU watchdog is investigating European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over a secret group chat involving Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky and several other European leaders, according to the Dutch outlet Follow the Money (FTM).

The probe follows a complaint by FTM after the European Commission refused to release messages from a private group chat that reportedly included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Commission reportedly argued that disclosure could harm the EU's relations with third countries.

In a letter sent to the Commission last week and cited by the outlet on Wednesday, European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho reportedly said she had opened an inquiry into the refusal to grant access to the communications.

Anjinho said the probe would examine whether the Commission complied with EU transparency rules when it rejected the request. She has also asked to meet Commission representatives by mid-July, FTM reported.

The group chat, dubbed the 'Washington Group', was first reported by Politico in January. Citing people familiar with the matter, Politico wrote at the time that participants had spent the previous year exchanging messages whenever US President Donald Trump did what they viewed as "something wild and potentially damaging." According to media reports, the group was originally set up in response to the Ukraine conflict.

The reported inquiry is the latest in a series of controversies involving von der Leyen and the Commission's handling of official records.

Last year, the EU's General Court ruled that the Commission had improperly handled a request by the New York Times seeking access to text messages exchanged between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during negotiations over the bloc's Covid-19 vaccine contracts. The Commission later pledged to review its record-keeping practices.

Earlier this month, Anjinho criticized the deletion of a text message sent by Macron regarding the EU's proposed trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc. The Commission declined to release the message in response to a freedom of information request, saying it had been auto-deleted. Following a complaint by FTM, the Ombudsman concluded that the message had been deleted unlawfully and called on the Commission to improve the preservation and archiving of official communications, including text messages.